Your Turn: Jan. 22

Published 3:59 pm, Tuesday, January 21, 2014

Photo: Carolyn Kaster / Associated Press

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President Barack Obama points to his name on a trophy given to him by Miami Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra during a ceremony where the president honored the 2013 NBA champions. A reader says the Spurs should be honored, too. less

President Barack Obama points to his name on a trophy given to him by Miami Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra during a ceremony where the president honored the 2013 NBA champions. A reader says the Spurs should ... more

Someone needs to tell Greg Abbott that the U.S. military is not an economic development program. Flagrantly pandering for the votes of the military, he does not make a case for why some Texas bases deemed to have “below average military value scores” should be retained for national defense. He only touts the local economic impact on the primarily “rural or low-population areas” where they're often located.

Sorry, but that isn't a good enough reason to suggest expanding big government by not only retaining unnecessary bases but also creating a new division within state government to fund such retention. Then he wants to further spend to improve infrastructure, job training and educational opportunities for military families.

As Abbott states, Texas is already home to a disproportionately large share of military facilities, but when federal budget-busting money is spent here instead of elsewhere, well, that's OK with Abbott. Like his support for abortion legislation that ignores the experts at associations representing medical doctors and ob-gyns, his dismissal of base realignment commissions' recommendations illustrates the level of political pandering he'll undertake to win the governorship.

Stanley Hall

Co-champions?

When I saw the president honoring the Miami Heat for its NBA championship recently, I thought to myself, they should have had the Spurs up there, too, with the Heat.

The Spurs and the Heat were about as evenly great as I have ever seen two teams be.

A different bounce of the ball, and the Spurs would have been the champions.

Well now we know that Chris Christie, the governor of New Jersey, is a big, mean bully, and oh so horrible.

The media and, of course, the late-night comics are letting us know the evil he stands for. Then he had the nerve to stand up in front of the press and his state legislature and accept the blame. And he even fired people!

He obviously needs lessons from those in Washington, D.C. You know, those folks handling the Fast and Furious situation, the-IRS-going-after-conservatives issue, the what-difference-does-it-make-in-Benghazi thing and, of course, the you-can-keep-your-insurance pledge.

He needs to learn how to deny, blame somebody else, and have long, slow investigations, to cover his tracks and to keep it out of the news. That is the way to the presidency. When will these terrible Republicans ever learn?

William Gallagher

Changing climate

“Cold, but warming is quite real,” Editorial, Jan. 8:

Your editorial was quite sad. Just another, in a continuing theme to promote and propagate a political hoax on all of us.

You say the “vast majority” of climate scientists believe man is responsible for changes in climate. Science isn't a “majority” sport. It is fact-based. And the fact is, the climate has always changed. Sometimes it's colder; sometimes it's warmer. Fact is, since 1997, surface warming has been flat. The global warming agenda is nothing more than a political movement. To think that man can control natural, long-term cycles in the climate is astonishing hubris!

In her excellent article, Vianna Davila observed that the attorney general equates light rail with streetcars but offers no explanation. Perhaps Attorney General Greg Abbott saw no need for an explanation because his ruling responds to the wishes of the electorate who voted against “light rail” based on their understanding of that term.

According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, light rail is “a means of urban railway transportation using trolley cars.” This definition clearly includes streetcars, which are “urban railway transportation using trolley cars.”

The dictionary contains generally accepted definitions of words. Voters rejected “light rail” in both 2000 and 2004 based on this generally accepted understanding, not the tortured distinction contrived by transit consultants in pursuit of lucrative VIA contracts. VIA wants to define away the people's rejection by making “streetcar” something different from “light rail,” thereby exempting their streetcar project from election decisions.

Words have meanings. Perhaps the AG's ruling responds to that reality and to the underlying will of the people.

Can you tell me one good thing that comes from them? The election process, including redistricting, filing for office and campaign donations, is corrupt as can be. The results of elections are even more corrupt than the process.

I am sorry for being late commenting on the letter by the Rev. Joseph Rasky regarding science and religion.

I must compliment him on his excellent reply.

I would just like to add that, if some people insist on believing they evolved from an ape or the world just dropped from nowhere, we may not be able to change their minds, but as for me and my family, we are with you, Father Rasky.

We believe we are here because of a much greater being who made this magnificent world and created us because he loved us.